Explosion in Sapporo injures dozens following gas tank fire at real estate agency【Video, photos】
Explosion occurred during dinner rush at second-floor restaurant.
At roughly 8:30 p.m. on the night of December 16 the Sapporo Fire Department received a call that an explosion had occurred near Hiragishi subway station in the city’s Toyohira Ward. When they arrived n the scene, they found that a two-story building had gone up in flames.
Three tenants had been renting space in the building: a real estate agency and osteopathic clinic on the first floor and an izakaya (Japanese-style pub) on the second. While some initial reports assumed the explosion had originated in the izakaya, investigators initially thought there may have been a problem with the real estate agency’s extrernally installed propane gas tanks.
(動画30秒) 消防によりますと、16日午後８時半すぎ、札幌市豊平区平岸３条８丁目の飲食店で爆発があったということです。 www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/2018… #nhk_news #nhk_video https://t.co/XZ98ziQfPr
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NHKニュース (@nhk_news) December 16, 2018
【全員意識あり】札幌の爆発事故、けが人は二十数人か news.livedoor.com/article/detail… 札幌市豊平区の爆発事故で、現場の建物は崩れ落ち、二十数人のけが人が出ている。全員意識があるとみられるという。 https://t.co/O2Dfjo267F
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ライブドアニュース (@livedoornews) December 16, 2018
▼ The scene of the fire the following morning
跡形もなくなった札幌市豊平区平岸の爆発事故現場＝１２月１７日午前７時５０分（北海道新聞社ヘリから、金田淳撮影） hokkaido-np.co.jp/article/258544 https://t.co/K8y6fb7zZu
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北海道新聞 (@doshinweb) December 17, 2018
Customers and staff of the second-floor restaurant having to evacuate by going out the windows, and 42 people suffered injuries related to the explosion. Glass and rubble were scattered far from the building’s foundation, and the falling building also destroyed an adjacent fishmonger’s shop and damaged a nearby building which houses a clinic and cram school.
@natankip 近所の居酒屋爆発してなくなってた、、、 https://t.co/p50E6kpFef
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さりー (@saopikorin) December 16, 2018
平岸 爆発 状況 https://t.co/XQoYA1qy8c
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あや (@lunch_pack_yaaa) December 16, 2018
▼ A before/after comparison of the location shows the building with its bright blue real estate agency sign in the left photo, and a charred void in the right.
札幌の爆発ヤバイな アパマンショップ消えてる https://t.co/QRq18XL8EZ
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ジミーちゃん (@0816Jimmy) December 16, 2018
ねえ、平岸の海桜爆発して 家揺れたんだけど… 絶対中に人いるよね…跡形もない… https://t.co/imirhLgDjq
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よめこ (@marugao__k) December 16, 2018
Miraculously, despite the startling property damage, no one was killed in the explosion and ensuing fire, which flung debris far enough to shatter the window of a condominium some 50 meters (164 feet) away from the blast.
Update: Fire department and police investigators are still working to determine the exact cause of the gas tank fire, though they suspect it may have started due to flammable cleaning/deodorizing sprays present inside the real estate agency (an employee admits to placing nearly 100 canisters, with holes in them and meant for disposal, near the office’s water heater) which then ignited due to an electrical spark or static electricity form the occupants’ clothing.
Sources: NHK News Web, The Sankei News, Hokkaido Shimbun, Otakomu, Hachima Kiko, NHK News Web (2), Kyodo
Featured image: Twitter/@saopikorin
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